The International Cricket Council (ICC), cricket’s ruling body, is preparing to leave London and move to Dubai. The Cheltenham-based International Badminton Federation decided last month to leave the UK to move to Kuala Lumpur, and the Observer newspaper reports the International Sailing Federation is being tempted to transfer its head office from Southampton to Monaco.
Since 1993 the ruling bodies of rugby, athletics and table tennis have all left Britain.
The sports ruling bodies are being lured by cash grants, tax concessions and other perks which the UK Treasury has refused to match, reports the newspaper.
It quotes a London 2012 Olympic bid insider saying: “These latest departures are bad news for our chances. Britain has a special place in the history of sport because we invited so many sports…it’s in the country’s interest to keep them here, because they help promote a positive image of Britain abroad.”
The source added: “Britain has little enough influence in the corridors of power in international sport without losing any more governing bodies. The government insists on seeing these organisations as normal profit-making businesses and fails to see that their profits are put back into devoting their sports’ grassroots.”
Mike Lee, London 2012’s spokesman, said the ICC’s likely move would not damage London’s chances because cricket is not an Olympic sport.
